Sunday, February 20, 2011

Menu for 2/20/2011 - Gypsy Pot Roast (Dude1)

Dude2 and I actually have an opportunity to dine together the next couple of nights. Tonight was my night to cook. I decided to use up a grassfed chuck roast I bought and froze from the Santa Fe Farmer's Market 3 months back.

I decided to take a recipe from the book Tender Grassfed Meat authored by Stanley A. Fishman. Stanley calls it Gypsy Pot Roast - Bohemian Style. Paprika (sweat and spicy varieties) and allspice make this a roast with a bit of a bite... Actually, I just returned from the Google and discovered I made a poor choice of a substitution. In the store I could not find two types of paprika like the recipe calls for. I figured maybe hot paprika was the same thing as cayenne. Nope! Cayenne is much hotter and that is why my dish had such a bite. My 1 year old needless to say did not eat it. Oops!

My roast actually came out more dry than I like it. Me and red meat do not seem to get along. I have yet to make my red meat dish that I am truly happy with. I'm sure cooking grassfed meat, which is lower in fat, will prove to be that much more of a challenge for me. Hopefully Dude2, Fishman's book, and others will get me out of my red meat rut. Stay tuned. Even though the cayenne was strong in the sauce, and the meat dryer than I like, it was still a pretty good dish. My wife is a meat and potatoes kind of gal and was extremely happy (more so than me). Dude2 was jet lagged and immediately ran off to bed so I didn't get much feedback from him : ) Dude2 did recommend I try cooking the roast all day long in the crock pot next time to try and improve the tenderness. My roast was simmered on the stove top for about 2.5 hours in homemade chicken stock.

For the side dishes I made fried left-over baked potatoes and steamed broccoli with lemon pepper.

I thinly sliced the left-over baked potatoes and added them to a pan with melted grassfed butter and raw unfiltered olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and freshly chopped organic parsley. Fry the potatoes until brown and crispy (UPDATE: fresh grated parmesan was a nice addition to this side the following night).

Steam organic broccoli until bright green and easy to penetrate with a fork. Add the hot broccoli to a bowl with a couple tablespoons of grassfed butter and sprinkle with lemon pepper to taste. The trick is timing the broccoli to be done right when the plates are ready to be served. Broccoli cools off so fast and who likes cold broccoli?